NBA to Add Two Expansion Franchises, Undergo Major Structural Changes for 2019-20 Season
Adam Silver has finally decided to make his own personal stamp on the National Basketball Association. With some major changes planned following the Raptors Championship win at the end of the 2018-19 season. The first move will see the league add two franchises. First, the Seattle Sonics will return to Seattle after over a decade out of the NBA. However, the Oklahoma City Thunder will retain the rights to the Sonics history and records from prior to 2008, so they will effectively be starting as a new franchise. The franchise has dropped the "Super" from its original Supersonics name to comply with trademark laws. The return of the Sonics was spearheaded by majority owner Jeff Bezos, who is also the CEO of Amazon, a tech giant headquartered in the same city. Secondly, Las Vegas will finally get an NBA team, the Jacks, mirroring their card-game oriented nomenclature from their WNBA franchise. Vegas' NBA franchise is run by Black Knights Sports and Entertainment Group, the same conglomerate responsible for the introduction of the Las Vegas Golden Knights to the NHL.
Both of these teams will join the Western Conference, leading to a restructuring of the league's divisions. The New Orleans Pelicans will move east to join the Southeast Division, with the Oklahoma City Thunder taking their spot in the Southwest. Seattle returns to the Northwest division that they were once a part of, and Las Vegas will join the California teams and Phoenix Suns in the Pacific. The Washington Wizards move from the Southeast to the more geographically close Boston, New York, Brooklyn and Toronto in the Atlantic Division.
In addition to this restructuring and expansion, Silver has announced major changes to the league schedule effective at the beginning of the 2019-20 season. These have been made to improve competitiveness, reduce the need for load management and improve the product on the floor from game to game. They are as follows:
- The NBA schedule has been reduced from 82 to 62 games, with each team playing at least one home and one away game against each other if scheduling allows.
- The NBA Playoffs will change from a 7/7/7/7 format to a 5/5/5/7 format. This is intended to leave teams fresher for the finals and increase the odds of upsets in early rounds.
- Division winners will get the top 3 playoff seeds in each conference, based on record. This is intended to re-ignite division rivalries within the league.